Our recent consulting work in demand response has emerged from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Order 719 (2008) that compelled grid operators to develop wholesale demand response products and services. This reflects a FERC vision for greater quantities of direct bid-in dispatchable DR aggregated at the retail level and sold at the wholesale level.
These requirements are framing the way that utilities and states develop this resource and participate in wholesale markets. On their own, ISOs and RTOs cannot obtain the volume of DR that utilities can procure. As a result, retail DR resources are migrating over into wholesale programs for regional dispatch.
Utilities expected to participate in forward capacity market auctions are not necessarily prepared to respond strategically because of complex options and market rules. Participation is not without risk, as there are penalties for ill-informed decisions.
Northeast Utilities. We are currently working on a team with MGALLC to help NU strategically participate in ISO-NE’s forward capacity market auctions.
Southern California Edison. We are currently assisting SCE in developing strategies for developing demand response resources and participating in the California ISO’s Proxy Demand Resource programs.
Connecticut Municipal Utilities. We participated in the implementation of a smart grid infrastructure project to install communication and data management systems for demand response and dynamic pricing.
North American Energy Standards Board. We participated on behalf of SCE in development of industry standards for monitoring and verification of demand response products and programs. Wholesale M&V interim standards were submitted to FERC on April 30 and retail model business practice standards will be submitted to NARUC for subsequent adoption at the discretion of state utility commissions.
Missouri Department of Natural Resources. We participated in the development of an industrial program in which a reverse auction was used to procure bids for capacity savings from manufacturing facilities and load aggregators.
Sustainable Energy Analytics. We participated in a project to qualify existing on-site generators as demand response resources by reducing emissions using selective catalytic reduction technology.
Peak Load Management Alliance. Ryn Hamilton moderated a panel discussion on behalf of Southern California Edison on monitoring and verification protocols for demand response products and programs at the PLMA Fall 2010 conference.
Industrial Laundry. We participated in development of a strategy for demand reduction and cogeneration to reduce load in a transmission congested zone of the electric grid.
Energy Curtailment Specialists. We partnered with this demand response aggregator on a project in which participating large electricity users were recruited into utility DR programs and paid to stand ready to curtail a portion of their electric usage during grid electric reliability events.
ISO-New England FCM101. Ryn Hamilton completed ISO-NE forward capacity market training certification May 2011.